When taking handwritten notes on a particular topic, it is common to exit the main body of notes, write down something elsewhere on the page, and return to the main body of notes. This activity is commonly referred to as creating an “aside” to the main body of notes. Asides may be necessary to write down an idea completely unrelated to the main body of notes, or a reminder, such as a reminder to buy a birthday gift for a relative. Asides such as these are frequently created at a place where the content will stand out from the rest of the content on the page, such as in the page margins or at the top of a page. Alternatively, asides may be used to create the beginning of a new subset of notes somewhere else on the page that will be used at a later time. The note taker can then easily jump back to the original position within the main body of notes and return to where they left off.
Creating asides using a pen and paper is a trivial task. A note taker simply finds some empty space on the page, creates the aside, and then returns the pen to their previous position. However, creating asides in an electronic document is not so easy, especially for touch typists that do not like to remove their hands from the computer keyboard. Currently, to create an aside within an electronic document, such as a word processing document, the user must take their hands off of the keyboard, grasp a computer mouse or other pointing device, locate space within the electronic document for the aside, and then select the desired location. The user must then return their hands to the keyboard and type the contents of the aside.
When the user has finished typing the contents of the aside, the user must again grasp the mouse or other pointing device, take time to find the location where they were typing prior to creating the aside, and then select the location. The user may then return their hands to the keyboard to begin typing where they left off. This process involves many steps and can be extremely time consuming and frustrating for users, especially users that prefer a keyboard to a mouse. Therefore, there is a need for an improved method for creating asides within an electronic document that reduces the number of steps required to create an aside.